Sunday, February 22, 2009

Holography

Holography is a technique that allows the light scattered from an object to be recorded and later reconstructed so that it appears as if the object is in the same position relative to the recording medium as it was when recorded. The image changes as the position and orientation of the viewing system changes in exactly the same way as if the object was still present, thus making the recorded image appear three dimesional. The technique of holography can also be used to optically store, retrieve, and process information. While holography is commonly used to display static 3-D pictures, it is not yet possible to generate arbitrary scenes by a holographic volumetric display. Holography was discovered in 1947 by Hungarian physicist Denes Habor work for which he received the Nobel Prize in 1971. It was made possible by pioneering work in the field of physics by other scientists who resolved technical issues that previously made advancements impossible. The discovery was an unexpected result of research into improving electron microscopes at the British Thompson-Houston Company in Rugby, England.One of the most promising recent advances in the short history of holography has been the mass production of low- cost solid state lazers.